A variety of thermal testing chambers having various enclosure configurations have been previously disclosed to enable test personnel to subject a device or devices to different temperature conditions. Oftentimes, this thermal testing is combined with shock vibration testing to help ascertain the quality and reliability of the devices.
Vibration testing is conducted by mounting the device to be tested upon a table or base which is in communication with the thermal test chamber and by then vibrating the table. Some prior art examples of such thermal/vibration testing equipment may be found in the following patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,863,123 issued to Jeng-Yau Wang discloses a metal thermal testing enclosure that is lifted up off a rigid base plate. A rubber barrier allows the enclosure to be mounted upon/over a shaker table.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,497 issued to Elie Bressan discloses a test enclosure formed of a three-ply polyethylene material that is lifted via an overhead crane over the test stand. A sealing jacket is fixed to the floor surrounding the test stand. The sealing jacket mates with the lowered test enclosure to fully enclose the test stand. An airlock in the enclosure provides access to the test components while the enclosure is in position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,344 issued to Ichiro Ueda et al. discloses an environmental test enclosure having a laminated insulated membrane. The enclosure has a rigid framework that is moveable like a curtain upon a rail system to allow access to the test stand.
While the prior art discussed above provide some solutions to the problem of providing a thermal test chamber that can be moved to provide greater access to the test stand, they do not provide a modular thermal chamber that can be quickly adapted to different vibrational test stands and which is provides unhindered access to the test objects.
One shortcoming of the prior art and commercially available thermal test chambers is that they are formed with rigid enclosure walls, which are effective in maintaining a desired thermal chamber, but inherently limit access to the components to be tested. Further, these test chambers are oftentimes large, expensive, fixed pieces of equipment that occupy a dedicated portion of the testing facility.
There is therefore a need for a thermal test chamber that is readily adaptable to differently sized vibrational test stands, while remaining portable and relatively inexpensive.